Her PS1 piece, Lineage for a Multiple Monitor Workstation: Number One (2015), is a semi-autobiographical narrative about Perry’s own family, and features moments like the ritual burying of her grandmother’s American flag, the collective peeling of sweet potatoes, and a gathering for a family portrait (all members clad in chroma-green ski masks). These tender moments are crosscut by dissonant interventions on the part of the artist, such as the dragging frames between screens (at “Greater New York” the work was installed to look like a multiple-monitor desktop) or the sudden booming of “I Thought It Was the 4th of July” from a YouTube video with Spanish subtitles.
The frenetic pathos of Lineage is also seen in Double Quadruple Etcetera Etcetera I (2013), which appeared at the Studio Museum. This video, constructed from a 9-minute-long loop of a 30-second clip, centers around a man dancing alone in a white room, his torso supplanted by a faint pulsating gray orb that reveals his silhouette in flashes. As he spins and lurches, the whiplike motion of his bistre-colored hair discloses his motion against the stark white backdrop.
Earlier this month I Skyped with Perry to talk about these recent projects, her upcoming exhibitions, and her thoughts on a variety of other subjects, including the role of generosity in her life and work.
ARTnews: So, you’re in Texas with the Core Residency Program right now. I remember when I saw you at Recess in SoHo, where you had a residency this past fall, you were shooting footage for your My Twilight Zone Thing project. You mentioned editing that footage at the Core Program. How’s it coming along?
SP: Yeah, I’ve been with the Core Program in Houston, Texas, since September. It’s a one-to-two-year residency for artist and art writers. I’ll be here for two. But, in terms of working, I’ve taken a little break from My Twilight Zone Thing project. When I finished the piece there, I realized I needed something else. Something I wasn’t going to get out of editing. So right now I’m working on a couple of different projects, including one with my brother.
Oh, I see. What’s that piece like?
SP: My brother is involved in a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA—the National College Athletic Association. He used to play Division 1 basketball, graduating from Georgia State University. Many players in the NCAA have had their “likenesses” used by gaming companies to make NCAA basketball video games. Which doesn’t seem that bad, but in terms of recruitment policy, players only get scholarships to play on teams if they do not accept any form of economic endorsement. Meaning, if the school or a corporation wants to use them (or their likeness) for the team they played with, the individual receives no compensation, even post-graduation. The NCAA reconciles this by saying the players get a free education. However, what’s known to happen is that the education the players actually receive is pretty lackluster. Many students are encouraged to take classes that are intentionally simple or classes with a lessened workload, designed specifically for them. Meaning, because the majority of the players don’t go to the NBA, most of them wind up post-graduation getting a low-paying job or possibly playing overseas. Basically, it’s a civil-rights case.
That’s horrible. What are you thinking about in terms of the video?
SP: My brother—or his likeness—was in two NCAA video games, the 2009 and the 2010 NCAA basketball games. So in terms of imaging him, all of his stats and his data were used by the company to make this likeness. However, the likeness doesn’t look anything like him. It’s just a pretty tall, light-skinned black male. Very generic. When I saw these games, I thought, what’s a likeness? So in terms of the video, I guess I’ll be exploring that question. We’re working with the video game itself, I’m rendering him in 3-D myself, and then we’re working with some actual footage shot here. I’m bringing him down to Houston later this month.
That sounds so interesting.
SP: Yeah. It’s what I’m focusing on currently. But, I have three other projects that need to be completed by early April. [laughs]
Exciting! Do you usually work on so many projects simultaneously?
SP: Not this many. But, that’s how I work. I’ve always done a couple of things at one time. It’s great because they all inform each other, even if aesthetically the projects seem very different. A lot of my pieces engage with the same ideas, so each project becomes this process of articulating it in different ways. It’s easier for me to see what I’m thinking about when I can visualize it in multiple forms.
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below: Sondra Perry, Lineage for a Multiple Monitor Workstation: Number One, 2015
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